Avalanche Forecast

FRIDAY NIGHT: Clear and cold. A wind event is expected overnight blowing strong northerly winds.

SATURDAY: Clear in the morning becoming cloudy in the afternoon. Mostly light winds switching from northwesterly in the morning to southwesterly in the afternoon. Freezing level around 700 m.

SUNDAY: Flurries. Moderate southwesterly winds. Freezing level around 1200 m.

MONDAY: 20-30 cm new snow. Strong southwesterly winds. Freezing level around 1000 m.

On Thursday a couple of size 2 natural wind slab avalanches were noticed near Whistler in steep, northwesterly alpine terrain. A couple of human-triggered avalanches were also observed, one on north-facing terrain in the alpine and one on east-facing terrain below treeline. All these avalanches appear to have involved only the recent storm snow.

Storm slabs formed by 20 cm of new snow and extreme east/southeast winds have formed touchy storm slabs that are expected to remain reactive to human triggers, especially in wind- and sun-affected terrain.

The new snow buried a variety of snow surfaces including wind pressed snow in the alpine, sun crusts on solar aspects, and a spotty layer surface hoar in some sheltered treeline areas.

Another weak layer buried in mid-February is composed of a crust, facets or spotty surface hoar depending on elevation/aspect, and is now down 50-80 cm. There have been no recent avalanches reported on this layer. Large triggers, such as an avalanche in motion, cornice fall, or intense loading from snow, wind and/or a rapid rise in temperature could awaken these deeper weak layers.

The mid and lower snowpack is well settled and strong in most areas.

• Expect slab conditions to change drastically as you move into wind exposed terrain.
• Continue to make conservative terrain choices while the storm snow settles and stabilizes.
• Extra caution is needed around cornices under the current conditions.
• Avoid exposure to slopes that have cornices overhead.